


Worth Loving

by QingsAndKueens



Category: The Last of Us
Genre: F/F, Owen Bashing, Rarepair, Slight Dina Bashing, Will Add More Later, ellie x abby, i started writing this once i finished the game
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-20
Updated: 2020-07-20
Packaged: 2021-03-04 17:54:55
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,844
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25410475
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/QingsAndKueens/pseuds/QingsAndKueens
Summary: What if instead of Abby leading Joel back to the lodge to kill him, she went with him back to Jackson? What if instead of Ellie ending up with Dina and Abby having a strained relationship with Owen, Abby and Ellie formed a romantic connection? Follows canon at the start, but eventually splits off.Contains spoilers, some character bashing, homophobia, violence, etc. Don't like, don't read.
Relationships: Abby/Ellie, Ellie/Abby
Comments: 20
Kudos: 125





	Worth Loving

Cold sweat dribbled down her forehead as her eyes snapped open, darting left and right in panic. She sighs to herself and bunches the top half of the sleeping bag up in her hand, eyebrows pinching inward into a frown. It was always the same nightmares, over and over, repetitive.

The woman sat up and huffed, resting her elbows on her knees as she stared at the lamp that was miraculously still on- she had expected it to have run out of battery by now. But she wouldn’t complain, she’s grateful.

Turning to the large 3-paned window she was a figure standing there, leaning against the wall and staring out into the snowy terrain that was covered in trees and steep slopes that she wasn’t looking forward to moving through. Picking herself up, she sleepily traversed the quiet room, avoiding her sleeping friends who were on the floor.

She sighed and sniffed, internally grumbling about getting a cold, before walking up to the man and whispering a quiet, “Hey.”

The man turned to her and nodded softly, “Hi.”

The woman crossed her arms and closed her eyes, leaning her head back in an attempt to fight off sleep when the man asks, “What were you dreaming about?”

“Was I talking?” She murmured, opening her eyes and looking at him with an anxious look in her eye.

He shook his head and pointed at her, “You were doing your teeth grinding thing.” He was always so expressive with his hands, he had trouble talking without them.

She stifled a smile and looked over her shoulder at their friends before turning back to the man. “Where’ve you been?” She wonders, only now noticing the snow splattered across his jacket. She raises a hand to brush some off before letting it drop back down to her side.

The man stops and stares at the floor for a moment, silent, before looking back up at her, “Grab your gear. I… wanna show you something.”

“What?” She asks as he pushes off the wall and begins to take a few steps away from the window.

“Trust me.”

She frowns and watches him walk away; she didn’t like this. She’s long past gotten over her feelings for the man, but he was still her friend. She still worried. But, yeah, she also still trusted him.  
\--

The rusty garage door squealed and squealed as it lowered itself, the now-geared up woman ducking out from underneath it just before it seals itself shut. She clears her throat and stands up, adjusting her beanie, before looking toward the man for guidance.

“Come on, this way.”

Sighing, she followed after him, wishing she had boots that fit her feet better as these ones would try to slide off everytime she stepped into a deep spot of snow. “Uff, it’s cold,” she says to herself, rubbing her arms through her jacket. “Are you sure you don’t wanna do this when the sun’s out? And it’s warmer?”

“Mmmmno,” he said, “Can’t wait.”

“And you don’t wanna just tell me?” She asked, slightly irritated.

He looked at her from over his shoulder and shrugged, “You need to see it.”

If she were being honest with herself, part of her couldn’t be bothered with this. He was always trying to find excuses for the two of them to be alone together recently, but she was also extremely curious as to what was so important.

He hopped a fence that was in the way and continued walking, not waiting for her to do the same. “What are you-” she cut herself off as she vaulted the fence and landed on the ground with a grunt, “-doing out here all by yourself anyway?”

“Been restless.”

The words made her frown deepen, but she didn’t comment on it.

The rest of their journey was spent in silence, an awkward type of it. The only sounds between them both were the sounds of the snow being crushed under their footsteps and the very few amount of birds left in the general vicinity. The apocalypse wiped out a lot of living things, and the animals were no exception. It seemed that if anything made a noise then it was prime target for infected.

The two climb up another small incline, one of the many they’d traversed through the half an hour journey so far, but the woman’s heart begins to race when she notices a sharp ledge with barely anything supporting it. “What is that?” She asks, voice trembling slightly.

“You’ll be fine,” the man says, crossing the feeble rocky area with ease.

“I-it’s too high,” she swallows, approaching with caution. _‘Of course there’d be such a high drop on the way. Of course.’_ She thought, mind racing a mile a minute. She saw the man’s lips moving, but could barely hear him as she began to slowly inch her way across. A small part snapped underneath her foot and she lurched forward, “Shit!”

She felt a hand grasp her arm and she violently shoved it off, anxiety too piqued for physical contact at this moment. She felt the vertigo hit her and her breath quickened, terrified that she was about to suffer a panic attack, and-

“Abby!” The man says firmly, “Stop looking down.”

She snaps out of it and shakes her head, hurrying across and taking a moment to catch her breath when she felt her feet safely on solid ground. She dusted some stray snow off her trousers and looked up, breath slowing to normal. “Owen…” she breathes out, “Do we have to go back this way?”

He chuckles and pats her on the shoulder, turning to continue the trek to whatever he wished to show Abby. “Consider it an opportunity to work on your fears.”

“How bout I work my foot up your ass?” She growls, following him once she builds up the will to.

“Abby.” He chuckles, “Stop flirting.”

‘When will he let go of the idea that I want to get back with him?’ She thinks, following him reluctantly. She and Owen were incredibly incompatible, and despite having a girlfriend he seemed set on dating her again.

They climbed up one last slope before the trees parted, and Abby saw bright lights in the distance despite the falling snow in front of her face. “Is this it?” She asks in awe, walking up to the ledge. She didn’t even worry about the drop this time, she was just so.. Amazed.

“We made it,” Owen said, walking up beside her and looking out over the large makeshift town.

Abby stares out, a small amount of tears building in her eyes, “Holy shit. It’s a fucking city.. Have you told anyone else?”

He shook his head, “Nah, I wanted you to see it first.” When Abby stayed silent, he raised an art to point vaguely in a direction ahead of them, “Saw an armed patrol go from town to an outpost over there.”

The woman turned and looked in the direction he was pointing, seeing a building with several lit windows.

“Few more outposts in between. They have electricity, guns…” He trailed off before looking Abby in the eye, “It’s a lotta people.”

Face hardened, Abby nodded as she ran through multiple scenarios in her head. “We can figure it out,” she said, determined.

“...Okay…” Owen said, unsure, “Assuming he’s in there, how do we get to him?”

The woman faltered and fumbled with her steps for a moment, fumbling over her words as she realised Owen had a point, “W-we can corner one of the patrols and then get information, and then… I dunno, maybe find a way to lure him out.”

“Yeah, okay,” The man laughed sardonically, “I’m sure they’ll be happy to just.. Offer that information up.”

Abby glared, “Well then we make them.”

“Do you hear yourself?” Owen asked in disbelief.

She rolled her eyes. “Okay then, what do you want to do?” Owen doesn’t answer, instead opening and closing his mouth like a goldfish. “What is going on with you?” Abby demands.

He stands in silence for a few seconds, before steeling himself, “Mel’s pregnant.”

Abby blinks and grins, “Oh.” But the smile on her face was not a happy one. It was one hiding anger and frustration. “Okay.”

In an attempt to de escalate the situation, Owen raises his hands in a surrendering motion, “It’s not just that though.”

“Should I say ‘congrats’?” Abby laughed.

“When everyone else sees this they’re gonna want to turn back,” he spits, arm raised and pointing to Jackson.

The spiteful smile on Abby’s face falters slightly, and she panics internally. “We can convince them, right?” She watches in anger as Owen looks to the side in guilt. “I fucking knew I couldn’t count on you,” she growls, tongue poking her bottom lip in anger.

“Abby,” he murmurs, “I want what you want… but not at any cost.” When Abby doesn’t respond, he places a hand on her arm, “Hey-”

“Don’t!” She shouts, lips and nose scrunching up like an angry tiger.

The man shakes his head and steps back, looking down the path they came. He raised a hand to his face and pinched his nose before muttering, “I’ll see you back at the lodge.”

The fog of the cold air swirls around Abby’s face as she stews on what had happened. She turned and watched him leave, before looking back to Jackson and closing her eyes in an attempt to control her fiery temper. It doesn’t work however.

Taking one last look at the lit up cabin a few miles from her, she walked forward with a purpose. “Fuck it.”

\--

 _‘Shit, fuck, FUCK,’_ were the thoughts rolling through Abby’s head as she picked herself up from the snow that was slowly seeping through the small cracks in her clothing and freezing her skin. There was a small moment of regret she felt before the sound of multiple runners reached her ears.

She bent down and retrieved the gun that she had let go of after the tumble with one of the infected down a steep slope, and held it out in front of her. Her hands were shaking.

Infected after infected dropped from the platform in front of her. She held her breath as some of them remained lodged in the deeper patches of snow, but most regained their balance and dashed after her.

She lurched forward to run, but faltered as she felt a sharp pain in her side from the fall. Gritting her teeth, she soldiered onward, legs pushing her as fast as they could further down the side of the mountain and through the twists and turns of the landscape. She could hear the shrill screams of the undead behind her.

Her heartbeat thumped in her ears as she fired off two shots behind her, hearing a zombie fall onto the floor. But that was one out of an entire horde. One down, but she could see and hear more and more joining the massive swarm that was chasing her.

Her stomach jumps into her chest as she slips down a slide of ice, glancing behind herself before continuing to run. There was no way in hell that the undead were going to let up anytime soon.

She ducked through a half-destroyed house, hoping to rest for a second, but jumping back into action when multiple hands slammed through the wooden barricades in the windows and clawed at her. She shot blindly into the gap before taking off in a mad sprint again.

“Okay, okay up this way..!” She grit her teeth and prayed to a God she didn’t believe in that her boots wouldn’t slip off as she ran up a slippery hill. She noticed the fence at the top had been broken by a truck that had slammed into it and climbed atop it, jumping from the cargo to the large metal containers, and eventually over a high steel fence and into a protected garden.

Slipping through a small gap between rubble and a chain link fence, she attempted to shy away from the grabbing hands and fingers that poked at her from between the holes. Abby’s eyes widened as she saw more and more infected pile onto it and saw it sink down slightly.

Eventually it toppled over, right before she was home-free, sending a couple infected on top of her. She shrieked and clawed at them in an attempt to pry them off, before she saw the butt of a pistol in front of her face and a sharp ringing in her ears. The infected fell off her like dead flies.

“Gimme your hand!” She barely heard the commanding voice of an older man, everything still so muffled, but saw the gloved hand offered to her and grabbed it. The man hauled her up on her feet, “We’re gonna have to run!” He shouted, making sure she could hear him this time.

She looked to her side and saw another older man with a short ponytail shooting at some stragglers attempting to enter via the broken fence. “There’s too many of them!” He shouted, worried.

“I’ll cover you, get going!” The man with the salt-and-pepper beard ordered, and the ponytailed man grabbed Abby’s hand to run into the building behind them.

“Through here!” He shouted, but faltered when he noticed 4 runners opening the double doors at the end of the hall, “Shit, hold on!” He pulled a bottle out of his pocket and set the cloth on fire, throwing it into the miniature horde and letting it explode.

Both Abby and the man turned to another door, squeezing through the gap to enter. The other man followed closely behind, and all three pushed against a cabinet to assure the door stayed firmly closed behind them.

The infected slammed against the door and Abby finally had a moment to breathe, turning to the greying man. “You okay?” He asked, and she answered in confirmation.

“Where the hell did they all come from?” The younger looking man asked, picking up some things from a table and putting them into his pocket for safe keeping.

The greying man growled to himself, “It don’t matter, what does is where we’re goin’.”

“I reckon we go out the back,” the other replied, “We can make a break for the lodge.” The woman cleared out some shelves of supplies and tuned out the men’s bickering until the man with the ponytail asked if she had a gun.

“Yeah,” she replied, voice slightly shaky. The panic that the situation was causing her made her block out anything the two men continued to say to each other. She was not going to die here. Her eyes landed on an exposed pipe in the wall and she gripped it with both hands, foot against the wall, and tore it out. _‘I can use this as a melee weapon,’_ she thought.

The three survivors exited the safe room through another set of doors which took them to where the ski lifts were operated, a sneaky infected getting the upper hand on Abby as one of the men tore it off her and smashed it’s skull.

“Got any ideas?” The blonde man asked, crossing his arms. He seemed to be happy to rest for a little while.

“Um,” Abby began, but cut herself off as a wave of vertigo washed over her. She raised a hand to her forehead and noticed blood on it once she pulled it away. “Uh, there’s a missing window. Maybe we can use one of the lifts to get up there.”

“Good idea, girl,” the greying man smiled, before positioning himself behind one of the heavy carts. “Tommy, help?” And the blonde man wandered over and helped him push it. Abby was going to help again, but the older man eyed her forehead and shook his head, “Nah, sit this one out.”

Abby sat on one of the tables and tried to ignore the squealing of the metal against the ground. She finally had time to sort through her thoughts, and she wasn’t exactly thrilled about it. The fact that she had just left her friends behind kept haunting her, as well as the fact that… well, that was the man she’s been trying to murder for years now. Joel.

But.. he had saved her life. She groans and massages her temples in frustration. _‘He fucking killed my dad and then has the audacity to save some random person?’_ She knew her thoughts were uncalled for, she was a raging mess of both gratefulness and the want for revenge.

“Girl,” Joel drawled, causing Abby’s head to snap up. “We’ve moved it. We’re gonna.. Head back down t’ Jackson if.. You wanna come with us.”

She sat in silence before nodding softly, “Yeah, I’ll, uh, come with. If you don’t mind.”

“Wouldn’t have asked if we didn’t want you to,” Tommy chuckled, giving Abby a hearty smack on the back before walking over to the ski lift and pulling himself on top of it. “Comin’?”

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry if there's any tense switching, this is the first big thing I've written in a while and I'm bad at keeping track of that ahah.  
> I have no real schedule for this, I'll update it when I feel like it, yaknow. Little nervous posting this since I know a lot of people hate Abby, but she's my favourite character.


End file.
